I have a problem. Where should I start?
You’ve got an issue you think may be affecting other people and you’ve landed yourself on our platform. Perhaps you’re feeling slightly overwhelmed and wondering what to do next.
Put simply, the premise of our site is to help you find others who have the same problem as you, so you can easily take action as a united force. There will always be other people who have been affected by your issue, or who want to support and join you in your endeavour - Find Others just makes it easier for you to find them.
This guidance article will tell you everything you need to know about how our tools can help you, and whether starting a campaign, petition, or legal case (or a combination) would be best suited to you.
Try to establish your desired outcome
Ask yourself: What results do I hope to achieve?
Depending on the nature and scale of your issue, you may wish to raise awareness, put pressure on decision-makers, push for change, or win compensation. Maybe you’d like to achieve some or all of these things. Whatever your intended outcome, knowing what you want to achieve will determine the action you should take.
Use our search bar first
Before you consider starting your own campaign, petition, or legal case, make sure you’ve searched for existing issues on our homepage first. You might be able to find others with the same problem - and they may have already done the work for you.
To find existing campaigns, petitions, and legal cases, you can search for topics (e.g. animal rights), descriptions (e.g. ‘My privacy has been breached’), or names of people, businesses, or organisations.
For example, if you had an issue relating to mega-farming practices, you might type ‘mega-farming’ into the search bar on our homepage. The results on our site would bring up the campaign below.
You may find that the issues addressed by an existing campaign on our site affect you or resonate with you. And perhaps the campaign aims to reach the same outcome that you also wanted. In this case, it wouldn’t be necessary for you to start your own campaign. Instead, marking your support of the campaign and sharing it to as many social media platforms as possible would be the best action to take.
If you’re not logged in or don’t already have an account, the above box will appear. You’ll need to log in or create an account to support a campaign.
It’s really quick and simple to create an account. If you’re just setting up a personal account, you’ll only need to fill in your name, email address, and password. If you’re setting up an organisation account, you’ll also need to follow the above steps, and then just provide your organisation type, name, and contact email.
Once you’re logged in, you’ll be free to select any of supporter options shown below.
‘I support this campaign’ is the default option. If you tick this box, you will essentially become a follower of the campaign page.
If you feel you have been affected by the issue raised in a campaign, you may want to select ‘I’ve been affected by this issue’. Don’t worry - we understand the issue may be sensitive to you, so you may not feel comfortable disclosing your identity. Rest assured, your contribution can be completely anonymous if you’d like it to be.
You can also select ‘I can help this campaign’ if you want to go the extra mile and feel you have something valuable to contribute. Maybe you’re a legal professional, a journalist, or simply just have extra time on your hands to help propel the campaign aims forward. A campaign owner will always really appreciate any extra help they can get to raise awareness of their issue.
You can select just one of these options, or you can tick every box - it’s entirely up to you. Whichever box(es) you choose to tick, you’re getting yourself involved and actively making a difference!
What if my issue isn’t on Find Others?
If you can’t find a campaign, petition, or legal case that addresses your issue, now is the time to consider starting your own. Underneath the search bar, you can select any of the three options.
Our tools are completely free to use. You can start anywhere and add more tools if or when you need them.
The idea of starting a campaign, petition, or legal case for the very first time can seem intimidating, but our tools are accessible to everyone and super easy to use. We take you through the process one step at a time to make a typically burdensome task far less overwhelming.
How do I know which tools to choose?
We understand that making a start can initially feel quite daunting, but his guide should give you the confidence to take the first active step towards your goal.
Campaigns
Want to raise awareness of your issue? Creating a campaign would be a great place to start.
Campaigns are organised action plans that aim to bring about social or political change. By creating a campaign, you can raise awareness of an issue you are experiencing and prevent it from affecting other people.
On Find Others, your campaign page allows you to reach out and communicate with a whole community of like-minded people who are concerned with, or have been affected by, the issue addressed by your campaign. Before you get started, check out our guidance on how to get the most out of your campaign page.
Typically, campaigns are best suited to larger-scale issues. That is, wide-spread issues or those that potentially affect lots of people. For instance, any issues relating to social injustice and inequality would be ideal subject matter for a campaign.
Your goal as a campaign owner is to attract as many supporters as possible, so it’s important that you make your campaign known and communicate well with your audience. When it comes to gaining more supporters, you cannot share your campaign enough! It’s really important to get the word out across as many social media platforms as you can.
For tips on how to gain supporters, you can read our guidance here. Once you’ve started a campaign and attracted some supporters, you might also find it useful to head over to our article How to communicate with your supporters.
Petitions
Want to influence decision-makers and bring about your intended change faster? Start a petition or add one to an existing campaign.
Petitions are a type of written appeal that people can sign to mark their support of your issue. As you gather more and more signatures, your concerns are more likely to be heard. Most importantly, having more people sign your petition puts pressure on the government and other influential people to enforce change. For tips on creating your first petition, take a look at our article Petitions: How and why should I start one?
As with a campaign, it’s really important to share your petition across as many social media platforms as possible to gain optimum attention and collect more signatures.
Do keep in mind, though, that if your petition requests a change to law or policy, the UK government will only consider petitions that are first created on their website.
The house of commons will engage with your issue if a certain number people sign your petition. If your petition receives 10,000 signatures, the government will respond. And if it gets 100,000 signatures, your issue will be considered for a debate in parliament.
Our tools enable you to link a UK Government petition to your campaign. Find out about the benefits of using this feature here.
Legal cases
Searching for others with the same legal issue? Unite and take action by starting a legal case.
As with campaigns and petitions, we take you through the legal case form step-by-step to make the process far less daunting. If you find that you’re unfamiliar with any legal terms, we have a useful Glossary of legal terms that you can turn to.
If you feel you have been wronged by a person, company, or organisation, and you’re seeking to win justice and redress (financial compensation), creating a legal case may be the best option for you. Taking legal action allows you to hold large organisations and influential people to account for their actions and can prevent others from suffering similar injustices.
But first, it’s really important to note that building a legal case should be your very last resort. If you haven’t done so already, you must go down the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) route, so you can attempt to find a different means of rectifying the issue with the hostile party. If you’re not sure what ADR entails, we have a guide you can read.
When you create a legal case on Find Others, it will be open for other people to join. When we unite, we become a much stronger force, so the more people join you in your fight, the more chance you have of winning your case. If you’ve seen Erin Brockovich (2000) or Dark Waters (2019), you’ll know that using your voice and coming together as a group is integral to obtaining justice.
Before creating your legal case, it may be helpful to read more about group action, case groups and class action in the UK.
Once you’ve created your case group, make sure to select the ‘Make live’ option.
When your case is live, you’ll need a legal professional to represent your group. Click on ‘Find a lawyer’ on your legal case page, and either choose a lawyer already working with members in the group, search the Find Others directory, invite a lawyer you already know, or mark yourself as ‘open to offers’. For tips on finding the right lawyer, read our guidance article.
If you have a campaign on Find Others, you may also consider adding a legal case to your page to speed up the process of bringing about tangible change. You can read about the benefits of turning your campaign into a legal case here.
Whether you choose to build a campaign, petition, or legal case on Find Others, you are giving a voice to those impacted by your issue who haven’t yet spoken out.
On Find Others, you will never fight alone. However powerless we may feel against those in positions of power, we are always stronger when we come together.
Use our free tools today to unite, campaign and take action.